


hair back, collar up, jet black, so cool (sing it like the kids that are mean to you)

by sympathy_for_hordak (sparrow0)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Bondage, Canon Compliant, F/M, First Time, Meta, Other, Porn with Feelings, Role Reversal, Season/Series 04 Spoilers, Set during season 3, Soft Hordak (She-Ra), Top Entrapta, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:55:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21522541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparrow0/pseuds/sympathy_for_hordak
Summary: Lord Hordak discovers that residents of the Princess Alliance have been creating peculiar adult material. His response changes the course of his own story.Spoilery details, including a full synopsis, are in the endnotes. Subsections are labelled in the text, so it's easy to skip the scenes that aren't your jam.
Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Hordak & Horde Prime (She-Ra)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 130





	hair back, collar up, jet black, so cool (sing it like the kids that are mean to you)

What people attempt to hide is often more valuable than what they're willing to reveal. 

It was for this reason that Lord Hordak was reviewing a file, this morning in his Sanctum. Specifically, a file concealed by one of his Force Captains, rather than being summarized and presented to him. He was sometimes satisfied with the Force Captains' comments on files like this, the excuses for secrecy.

This one, though, had been rejected with a comment from Force Captain Octavia that simply read "nope." Most intriguing, as Force Captain Octavia had previously been reticent, but not cowardly or vague. 

The next page was a report from one of Force Captain Octavia's spies. It stated that a scholar of Mystacor had published a monograph about the Horde's activities, and the spy had obtained an unredacted copy for the glory of the Horde. 

Lord Hordak continued to the scholar's work. 

_Sociocultural Perspectives on the Horde Lord's Dominance_ , read the title. He began. 

_The narratives we become emotionally invested in are clear demonstrations of our own priorities - mirrors of our interpretations of reality. Why, then, do so many erotic works valorize and glamorize deeply-held fear and hatred? This text compares fictional depictions of the Horde Lord with recent psychological study about Etherian desire._

_Many of these depictions are fundamentally inclusive, chiastic in structure and reproductive in conclusion..._

Lord Hordak frowned, skimming ahead. 

~~~

 _Excerpt from_ In His Sanctum _by Trousers Dragonheart, published by Moonsword Press in 1043 A.S._

_He grabbed both of her delicate wrists in one enormous, clawed hand, and pinned them behind her back._

_Her heart pounded as she stared at him. She was terrified of the man that had imprisoned her for all these months. The terrible Horde Lord had her entirely at his mercy._

_His other hand ripped open her bodice, reaching within to touch her chest. He had been fearsome and brutal, but now his long, sharp claws seemed almost gentle as he carefully ran them up her curves._

_Her spirit was aflame, a baffling mix of fear and desire. "Please, my lord, sir," she gasped._

_The Horde Lord's claws stilled against her. He regarded her silently. His eyes were glowing, scarlet orbs in a skull-like face, his expression unreadable. He smelled of something chemical and powerfully masculine, something uniquely himself._

_"Please," she said, her voice tiny, knowing she had no choice and scared and delighted and aroused and ashamed all at once, "please, sir, continue."_

~~~

Lord Hordak shuddered, horrified, knowing his "glowing, scarlet orbs" could not unsee that. He skipped forward again. 

_...Nearly two-thirds of surveyed women have experienced fantasies of rape and coercion. In contrast to previous research, which suggested that rape fantasies were either entirely aversive or entirely erotic, rape fantasies were found to exist on an erotic-aversive continuum, with 9% completely aversive, 45% completely erotic, and 46% both erotic and aversive._

_Thematically, these fantasies may involve the "absolution" of the targeted character: she remains pure and innocent because she does not ask for or initiate any encounter. She is often coded or outright described as feminine, youthful, good, sweet, light, and/or innocent, while he's a symbolic force of masculinity, maturity, evil, perversion, darkness, and corruption._

_Their unions are almost universally symbolically procreative. They are frequently literally procreative, too, in the sense that the Horde Lord's former captive and current bride, wife, or lover becomes pregnant and bears his offspring. The circuits of fear and the circuits of arousal are very closely linked._

Lord Hordak was profoundly uncomfortable. He was certain that his entire face was aflame, blushing harder than he had since his time as a cadet. 

A nightmarish possibility occurred to him. He steeled himself and prepared to confront it. 

~~~

Lord Hordak burst into Entrapta's lab, clutching the file. 

She stared. "What happened, Hordak?"

He thrust the sheaf of papers at her. "Have - have you read this? Did you know? Surely, you cannot believe this insubordinate pack of lies!" 

A pair of hair tendrils grabbed the file, and Entrapta tilted her head as she flipped through it. "It depends what you mean by 'know' and 'believe.' I don't care for Dragonheart's work, and I hadn't known there was a monograph. But they're very popular books and you have spies everywhere - was all this really totally new to you?"

"Yes," Lord Hordak exclaimed. "It's repulsive! Abhorrent! None of it makes any sense!" 

"Not in the sense that it's plausible or healthy, no, but they're fantasies. Fear is fascinating! Having power is fun and attractive! Half the point of simulated activities is taking steeper risks than one could justify in reality!" She stopped, noticing his expression. "Can you not see how this kind of thing happens at all? Did it not happen among your people?" 

"I could never," he grumbled, looking down at the crystal powering his armor. "Among other obstacles, I physically am not - equipped to do half this stuff." 

Entrapta looked him up and down, contemplative, then looked around the lab. "That's hardly an obstacle, you're standing in a laboratory full of machinery and biotech. We can build equipment, it wouldn't take that much time."

"I would never," he answered, quieter. "I have no desire to inflict myself on someone in that way."

"Really?" Entrapta asked. "Because I mean, it seems like it'd be a pleasant simulation, having someone at your mercy like that. You don't want to just - let loose and do whatever you want? You don't want to take anybody apart? Make them cry? Especially if you could be sure they secretly loved it? It's a widespread preference."

"No! I don't want to exploit anyone. Not even simulated exploitation."

"Oh, you're blushing," Entrapta realized. "Fascinating! I didn't know that was possible! Why?"

Lord Hordak turned away. "No reason."

"Nonsense! Come on, you can tell me, I'm your lab partner. we could experiment together."

He stared at the door. "What if - we didn't, though," he heard himself saying, as though from very far off. "What if you experimented and I - um. I - was. I." 

She rested a hair tendril on his shoulder. "Ohhhhhh, I see, _you_ want to be the captive damsel. A plaything of Lady Entrapta of the Horde? A subject of my experiments?" She cackled. "I can work with that. I will need a little while to make the necessary arrangements." 

Lord Hordak, ruler of the Fright Zone and scourge of Etheria, shivered. "Very well. Inform me when you have prepared." He returned to his lab, unsure whether to hope nothing would come of the bizarre conversation, or to hope something very much would. 

~~~

[the first experiment]

Entrapta set up a space in what had been a storage room off of Lord Hordak's lab. She carpeted the walls and floor to muffle sound, as a precaution, and reviewed her data on the problem. 

One evening, when the newest components to their portal machine were going to require several hours to fully bond to each other and settle into place, she took his hands in hers. "I'm ready to begin our first 'Lady Entrapta simulation' experiment, if you're ready," she told him. 

He nodded, his face carefully neutral. 

"First precaution: we are pretending. If it's too much or you need me to stop for anything, you can always say so. You may also call me princess, or Princess Entrapta, and I'll stop. if I need you to stop pretending, I'll call you Lord Hordak or my lord. This way we can warn each other if we notice anyone approaching. Is that sufficient?" Entrapta asked. 

"Yes, Lady Entrapta," he said, unable to keep the excitement from his voice. 

Entrapta grabbed him, wrapping hair tendrils around his torso and limbs, carrying him to the chamber she'd arranged. 

She had welded open shackles to the legs of a large chair. Entrapta pressed him into it, his wrists and ankles into the restraints, and pressed a button on a tiny remote. The shackles snapped shut, trapping Hordak in place. 

Entrapta beamed. "Ha! It works perfectly! Second precaution: this switch will activate or deactivate the restraints. Hold this for me, just in case," she instructed, a tendril pressing the little device into his fingers. 

"I have you now, Prince Hordak," Entrapta declared. "You're mine, powerless against me, and soon I shall crush your entire Princess Alliance!" 

Entrapta leaned forward, rising up on her hair to loom over him. "In the meantime, let's see how willing you are to, shall we say, cooperate." 

"I'm willing," he said, soft and uncertain. 

She hooked a tendril into the upper edge of his collar, pulling his head forward. 

He thought she meant to reinforce his subjugation, to force him into a graceless mockery of a seated bow. 

She brought a hand against the high neckline of his dress, along his spine. Slowly, her fingertips moved up the back of his head, and she began to play with his hair.

"Oh," Entrapta said softly, "this is as soft and fluffy as I had hoped. Excellent. What a joy it will be, my prince, to conquer the galaxy with a treasure like you at my side." 

"You hoped for this, Lady Entrapta?" he asked, wide-eyed, her hands in his hair. 

She smiled, hands moving forward. "I did," she said, stroking the outside of one ear. 

His eyes closed, and he let out a small, desperate sound. Inwardly, he braced himself for her insults, her mockery. 

She repeated the gesture on the other side. "Wow. You really like that, don't you?" 

"Yes, Lady Entrapta," he answered. 

Entrapta brought both her hands to his ears and began to run her fingers along them, watching him as though he were as precious and intriguing as any First Ones data crystal. He moaned. 

"You like me petting your ears?" she asked. "Like a kitten?" 

Hordak could feel himself blush. He couldn't look at her, couldn't bring himself to answer. 

Entrapta moved her hands away. "Well, maybe you didn't like it all that much. That's okay! There's plenty of other data to collect." 

Entrapta ran her hands slowly outwards and downwards from the center of his chest, over his armor and his dress, until she reached the bare skin of his lower back. She stroked his skin there, gently and firmly, and he seemed to respond a little, but it was nothing like the unsteady breaths and incredible sounds he'd made before. 

"I have you, Prince Hordak," she repeated. "You're mine, your world is mine, and you're going to yield to me. You have no choice." 

Entrapta felt him relax in her hands. _Gloating reassures him,_ she thought. _I wonder why?_

She ran her hands along the outsides of his thighs, up from his knees, over the bare skin revealed by the high slits in his dress. 

"Lady Entrapta, what is it you desire?" he asked. 

"The truth. Did you like having your ears petted? Tell me," she ordered. 

He nodded, and one of her tendrils took the remote from his hand. 

Hordak had a moment of frozen terror, where he was wholly convinced she was disgusted by his display of weakness and about to leave him there, helpless and alone. 

Entrapta deactivated the restraints and climbed into his lap. "You did good," she said. "My good, sweet prince." Her hands stroked his ears. "This has been a tremendously productive experiment." 

She leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Lord Hordak, what's your assessment?" she asked. 

"That was better than I anticipated," he answered, "and I had thought my expectations too high." 

"Can I get you undressed next time?" Entrapta asked. 

"If you wish, you may remove the dress and destroy the undergarments," he answered. 

_I wonder how he imagines I'm going to 'destroy' his underwear without damaging him,_ Entrapta thought. 

_I can't believe she wants to do this again,_ Hordak thought. _I was certain she'd be disappointed, and next time, she undoubtedly will be._

Entrapta hummed, an idea forming. "Also, could I maybe remind you about the crystal a little?" 

_I want to make sure Hordak knows he is loved, knows that this is a game I want him to enjoy,_ Entrapta thought. 

_Clearly, she intends to remind me of all the power she has over me, to mock me for my ignorance and dependence. This might as well happen,_ Hordak thought. 

"Of course," he answered. 

~~~

At approximately three hundred, Hordak woke from dreams he did not have the desire or the fortitude to recall clearly. He reached for his hair, verifying the deep blue was still there. 

His hand stayed in his hair, brushing it forward again and again. It flowed differently through his fingers, slightly softened by Etherian dye. The texture wasn't quite the same when it was white. It hadn't been white for decades. In this lighting, it looked black. 

This lighting. He looked down, bringing his other hand up to touch Entrapta's crystal. Everything he saw, now, was lit by its rosy light. 

Hordak stared at the crystal, thinking, for a long time. He could name Entrapta Lady of Dryl and the Fright Zone in truth, betraying Horde Prime, and hope to die of his defects before any portal opened on Etheria. Hordak could grant Entrapta a painless death once their victory seemed assured, preventing his lab partner from falling into his emperor's hands. He could tell Entrapta more about Horde Prime, ask her whether she wanted him to risk treason on her behalf. He could exile her, order her never to speak of him again, and retool the armor so the crystal was better concealed. He could ask her to hide him, if Etheria ever rejoined the wider universe. 

In the end, as the sun rose, he decided to change nothing. Hordak did not wish to worry Entrapta about what could possibly, maybe, happen next, and he could not defy his emperor by giving up or slowing down. 

~~~

[the second experiment]

"Your so-called 'friends' from the Rebellion aren't coming to your rescue, Prince Hordak," Entrapta said, a tendril winding around his arm. 

Hordak's eyes widened. 

"You had forgotten all about them, haven't you?" she asked, smirking. "You're beginning to realize your place is here." 

Today, Lady Entrapta's chamber held a gleaming white operating table. "On the table, on your back," she ordered. 

He obeyed, immediately and silently. 

"Knees apart, hands above your head, wrists together," she added, and Hordak took the position. She slid a hand up the inside of his thigh. "Good. Your vulnerability is impressive." 

A brilliant violet scalpel shone in a hair tendril, just above Hordak's head. "You know," Entrapta said, "I've always wanted to dissect one of your kind. Would you let me?" 

Hordak's mouth opened, but no sound came out. 

"I suspect that you would," Entrapta continued. "It seems to me that you're so eager for any sort of affection, for anyone to value you, that if I told you to, you'd beg me to cut you apart." 

_I'm surprised he's acting so scared; I'm dragging the scalpel along his arm blunt-side-down. This can't damage him as much as those claws could,_ Entrapta thought. 

_What in all galaxies is happening, where did this come from, is she serious, she can't be serious, can she?_ Hordak's mind babbled.

"What do you think, Prince Hordak?" Entrapta asked. "With my blade against your skin?"

His eyes were wet. "Yes. If it pleases you, go ahead."

Entrapta smiled, affectionately running a tendril of her hair through his hair. "Fortunately for you, it does not please me. You are far too lovely a specimen to dissect. I merely wished to demonstrate my power. I intend to demonstrate it differently now."

She lifted his body and exposed him in a few quick motions, hair tendrils pulling away his skirt and his slip and sliding off his underwear. She lowered him back to the table gently, watching Hordak, her red eyes shining. 

Between his legs, there was a patch of moon-white hair and folds of delicate, dark blue skin below it. 

"What do you call this?" Entrapta asked.

He turned his head, looking away. "That is not spoken of. My apologies, Lady Entrapta, I know your world's males harden and release. I cannot." 

"That is not a concern, Prince Hordak. Relax and let me run my tests. I like this. I like you."

Entrapta's fingers against his body started gently, stroking and pressing, and pushed harder and faster as he squirmed and gasped. Her tendrils held his limbs, pinning him down and pressing the armor she had built against his skin. 

Hordak was overwhelmed by her attention, flooded by her eyes and hands and hair upon him. The sensation built and built, stronger than Hordak had felt from any other person before. He gasped as the wave crashed through him. 

Entrapta fingered him through the aftershocks, then helped him up and led him to curl against her on the sofa. She let him come down slowly, tucking a blanket around them both and petting his hair. 

A few minutes later, when she felt ready, Entrapta spoke. "That was incredible! You're incredible! But, Lord Hordak - was the scalpel bit okay? I was acting."

His shoulders curled inwards, his ears lowered. "I was not acting. I meant it."

"Oh shoot," Entrapta whispered, then inwardly cursed herself as his frown deepened. "No, Hordak, that's not an indicator that you've failed me or I'm displeased with you. It's an indicator that someone failed you, that you were taught that displeasure was worse than you volunteering to be hurt."

He was silent for a long time, shivering and staring at nothing. When it ended, he asked to return to their primary project. Hordak offered no explanation, and Entrapta did not request one. 

Secretly, Entrapta hoped that she might someday meet the person Hordak had loved before, and take her revenge from that monster's hide. 

~~~

_"Your compliance is the only reason I have not yet decommissioned you. Are you ready to give up?" Horde Prime asked, his voice mild._

_"No, please, sir," the clone whined. "Again."_

_"Are you certain?" Horde Prime was inspecting his knife, indifferent._

_"I am, my emperor, my brother, my will is yours! It has ever been and will ever be yours!" he begged. The clone shook in his chains, blood pouring from his wounds._

_"Very well," Horde Prime replied, sinking the knife into the white skin of the defect's thigh and twisting._

~~~

[the third experiment]

"I have gathered most promising data from our experiments. I want to try something else," Entrapta announced. 

Hordak paused and set down the flask of glowing liquid. "I did not expect to cause such difficulty after the last time. I cannot guarantee my performance will improve."

"Your performance was wondrous and I have no critique," Entrapta answered. Tendrils of her hair grabbed his limbs. In the space of a few seconds, he was handcuffed to the nearest post, wrists above his head, release switch tucked between his claws.

Hordak stared at her. 

"Prince Hordak, there's something I've wanted to do for weeks now." She gestured towards the crystal in his collar. "I have taught you a little of the writing of your world's First Ones, tell me, what does this say?"

Hordak had no idea but couldn't bring himself to admit it.

Entrapta grabbed his hair with a tendril of hers and pulled back. His eyes filled with tears. Face tipped towards the ceiling, Hordak didn't have to look at her, and the pain grounded him, comforted him. 

_Excellent,_ Entrapta thought. _I saw him start to go somewhere else and I pulled him back to now, to me._

"What does it say?" she repeated. 

"I'm sorry, I don't know, my lady," Hordak admitted. 

"Hm, I had thought you more perceptive," Entrapta said. She let go of his hair. 

He slumped forward, staring down at the crystal. 

Entrapta held still and spoke quietly. "That glyph reads 'loved.' I have not claimed you merely for your for what you can do for me, for the quickness of your mind, the power of your body, the depth of your experience, though all those are of value to me. You are capable, but that is not all you are."

Hordak lifted his head to stare at her, and she moved closer, not quite touching him, so close he could feel her breath.

"You are _mine_ ," Entrapta said. "You have been loyal, told me the truth, respected my decisions, followed my instructions. You have been good to me, and I intend to reward you for that."

Gently, she leaned against him, trapping his body between hers and the post. She stroked his ears, firmly and gently, and felt him draw unsteady breaths. 

Entrapta continued to hold Hordak, continued to pet him. Hordak believed her without qualification for the first time. Hordak wept, realizing that Entrapta had seen his defects and chosen him, had embraced Hordak with comprehensive knowledge of his flaws. 

Entrapta let him cry, wrapping hair tendrils around his arms to ensure the pressure on his shoulders wasn't too much. 

Hordak's tears stopped, eventually. 

Entrapta smiled, running her fingers through his hair. "I adore watching you like this, knowing you're feeling new things, exploring strange territory, wide-eyed and uncertain. I have never wanted to break you. Let me know you, so I can rebuild you stronger."

In that moment, Hordak wanted to ask Entrapta to keep him for real more than he'd ever wanted anything. He could not bring himself to do it. 

~~~

The next day, Catra presented Lord Hordak with She-ra and the Sword of Protection. One of Catra's minions helpfully used the energy cuffs lying on the floor of the lab to restrain the princess. 

**Author's Note:**

> **Acknowledgements:**
> 
> This is my first work of explicit fan fiction. It would not have been possible without prior art in this space, to which I am deeply indebted. 
> 
> The title of this work is a lyric from My Chemical Romance's "Vampire Money," which was written in response to and in mockery of _Twilight_. If you're into _Twilight_ or heteronormativity in general, then I want you to know I think your kinks are valid. Lord Hordak as I write him has no desire to click through to any of that, but I hope it's clear that I'm not judging you, this repressed, bat-eared bundle of neuroses is judging us all.
> 
> The name "Trousers Dragonheart" is a reference to [TVTropes' Draco in Leather Pants](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DracoInLeatherPants), of which this work is an example. 
> 
> Parts of the monograph were lifted from [this](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19085605) 2009 research paper's abstract and [this interview](https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywkkbb/the-history-of-sadomasochism-is-strange-dark-and-occasionally-sweet) with Peter Tupper, who wrote the _Beauty In Darkness_ blog back in the day, which is now a book called _[A Lover's Pinch](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/37512981-a-lover-s-pinch)_. 
> 
> Entrapta and Hordak's in-scene and out-of-scene titles were influenced by the expansive [Lord and Lady of Dryl](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1377868) series. 
> 
> Finally, I want to give a shout-out to other fic that has nailed the "eroticizing trauma" dynamic before, including [Bucky Bear and the Difficult Question](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3145085) (not actual porn) and [Kankri: Learn From Humanity](https://archiveofourown.org/works/844733/chapters/1612971) (very much actual Homestuck porn, with tentabulges). 
> 
> Thank you, too, for reading, and to the fans who encouraged this work's creation. 
> 
> **Synopsis:**
> 
> Lord Hordak discovered a monograph about erotica in the general style "Horde Lord seduces helpless beautiful prisoner." 
> 
> There was an excerpt from _In His Sanctum_ \- an in-universe work of fiction in which "the Horde Lord" has a sex scene with an unnamed woman, including him holding her down and her contemplating wanting it and simultaneously not wanting it. 
> 
> The monograph proceeded to talk about the cultural context of these narratives, including mentioning that the "Horde Lord" often fathered children with his brides/lovers/captives. 
> 
> A possibility occurred to Lord Hordak: _is this what Entrapta believes?_ He went to her.
> 
> Entrapta was unruffled by the material Lord Hordak had discovered, and by his admission that he didn't have the "physical equipment" to cause pregnancy. She commented that she would be delighted to pretend to harm someone in the way the Horde Lord supposedly harmed the maiden. Lord Hordak admitted that being experimented upon in that fashion might be enjoyable, if she did it.
> 
> Her first experiment went smoothly and consisted of her gloating and touching his restrained, clothed body. She pressured him to admit he enjoyed having his ears petted by not petting his ears until he gave in. After, they cuddled. 
> 
> After the first experiment, Hordak had a sort of dissociative experience. He considered telling Entrapta about Horde Prime or changing his plans, but did not follow through. 
> 
> Entrapta's second experiment involved threats, knifeplay, and her finger-fucking him. This turned out to be extremely intense, and include Hordak both genuinely fearing for his life and experiencing his first non-solo orgasm. As Entrapta provided aftercare, Hordak had a flashback to being tortured with a knife by Horde Prime. He didn't tell her about it. 
> 
> During her third experiment, she handcuffed him in their lab, pulled his hair and attempted to remind him about the crystal. As a result, Hordak found out for the first time what it said. Entrapta petted his ears.


End file.
